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First-place Bruins take a trip to Ottawa

Feb 18, 2011 - 4:23 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins regained first place in the Northeast Division on Thursday and tonight they will try to extend their lead when they visit the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.

The Bruins entered Thursday's action tied with Montreal atop the Northeast Division. However, Boston grabbed a two-point lead over the Habs last night when the Bruins picked up a road win over the Islanders and the Canadiens lost in regulation at Edmonton. Montreal is idle this evening.

Boston scored early and often in its recent 6-3 win over the Isles. The Bruins scored three times in the first period and went ahead by a 4-0 score after David Krejci tallied just 55 seconds into the second stanza.

Krejci, Milan Lucic, Tyler Seguin and Blake Wheeler all recorded a goal and an assist as Boston ended a three-game slide.

Mark Recchi and Gregory Campbell also potted goals for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask turned away 34 shots to earn the win.

"You don't want to play the score, you just try to focus on your game and stopping every puck," Rask said of being staked to such a sizeable lead. "At the end of the day, you just want to stop every puck, no matter what."

Bruins No. 1 netminder Tim Thomas is expected to be back between the pipes tonight. He is 2-1 with a 0.67 goals-against average against the Senators this season and has posted a pair of shutout wins over Ottawa.

Boston has taken two of three from the Sens this season, winning once on home ice and once in Ottawa. The Bruins posted a 6-0 triumph over the visiting Senators when the clubs last met on Jan. 11. It marked the third time Boston had blanked the Senators in the last seven matchups.

The Bruins have taken six of nine overall in the series and have won four straight and seven of their last eight in Ottawa.

Boston began a six-game road trip in Thursday's contest and is 17-7-4 as the visiting team this season.

The Senators, who are last in the Eastern Conference with 45 points, recently ended an 11-game slide with Saturday's win in Edmonton, but Ottawa failed to win consecutive games when it hosted the New York Islanders on Tuesday. Frans Nielsen scored the game-winner in the second round of the shootout to lift the Isles to the 4-3 decision at Scotiabank Place.

Bobby Butler had a goal and an assist for the Senators, who are 2-12-4 since the calendar flipped to 2011. Ottawa also hasn't won two in a row since beating Nashville and Pittsburgh on Dec. 23 and 26, respectively.

Ryan Shannon and Erik Karlsson also scored in Tuesday's defeat and Brian Elliott turned aside 25-of-28 shots. Karlsson's goal came with 4:04 left in regulation and it knotted the game at 3-3.

"We lost out on the chance to get the extra point, but we showed a lot with coming back in the third," said Butler.

Ottawa has dropped its last nine games on home ice and is just 9-15-5 as the host club this season.

The Senators made a trade this morning, sending Elliott to Colorado in exchange for goaltender Craig Anderson. Elliott had a 13-19-8 record with a 3.19 goals-against average in 43 games for Ottawa this season.

Anderson has a 13-15-3 record and a 3.28 GAA this season after turning in a career year with the Avalanche in 2009-10. Anderson, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, was 38-25-7 with a 2.63 GAA last season.

The Sens have been active sellers in the weeks leading up to the league's Feb. 28 trade deadline, beginning with the deal that shipped centerman Mike Fisher to Nashville on Feb. 10.

Ottawa also dealt forward Jarkko Ruutu to Anaheim for a sixth-round pick in the 2011 draft on Thursday, and earlier this week, the Senators sent center Chris Kelly to Boston for a second-round selection. Kelly is expected to make his Bruins debut tonight.

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson missed his third straight game with a back injury on Tuesday and is out indefinitely. Defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Chris Campoli are also questionable for tonight with lower-body injuries.